Om Tryambhakam Yajamahe
Sugandhim Pushtivardhanam
Urvarukamiva Bandhanan
Mrityor Mukshiya Maamritat

Meaning :
We worship the Three-eyed One (Lord Siva).
Who is fragrant and who nourishes well all beings.
May He liberate us from death for the sake of immortality,
Even as the cucumber is severed from bondage to the creeper.i.e. By your Grace, Let me be in the state of salvation (Moksha) and be saved from the clutches of fearful death.

Another Meaning:

We worship Lord Shiva the three-eyed one,
the one who is the master of all senses and qualities and the
one who is the sustainer of all growth.
May He release us from the bondage of death
as a ripened cucumber is released from its stalk
and may He grant us immortality.
(not deprive us of immortality).
 

 Significance of Mrityunjaya Mantra

The Maha Mrityunjay is a mantra that is said to rejuvenate, bestow health, wealth, a long life, peace, propsperity and contentment. The Mantra is a centuries old technique of connecting one to pure consciousness and bliss.

The prayer is addressed to LORD SHIVA. By chanting this Mantra, Divine vibrations are generated which ward off all the negative and evil forces and create a powerful protective shield. And it is said to protect the one who chants against accidents and misfortunes of every kind. It is a vibration that pulsates through every cell, every molecule of our body and tears away the veil of ignorance. It ignites a fire within us that consumes all our negativity and purifies our entire system. It is also said to have a powerful healing of diseases declared uncurable even by the doctors. It is a Mantra to conquer death and connects us to our own inner divinity.

Known as the Moksha Mantra of Lord Shiva, Maha Mrityunjay evokes the Shiva within and removes the fear of death, liberating one from the cycle of death and rebirth.

The Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra is very much a protector from accidents, mishaps and daily calamities in the modern busy life.

When to chant :

Chanting the Maha Mrityunjay Mantra with sincerity, faith and devotion in Bramha Muhurata is very beneficial. But one can also chant it anytime in a pure environment with great benefit and discover the happiness that's already within.

This Maha Mirityunyaya Mantra is a life giving mantra. It is a mantra to keep us safe from harm, safely in the arms of the Lord. It has a great curative effect, against diseases of body and mind, if it is chanted with sincerity, faith and devotion.  In these days, when life is very complex and accidents are an everyday affair, this holy Mantra comes to your rescue. It wards off death by snake-bits, lightning, water accidents, motor accidents, air accidents, and accidents of all kinds. Besides, It has a great curative power. Diseases that are pronounced incurable by doctors are cured by this Mantra, when chanted with sincerity, faith and devotion. It is a Mantra too conquer death.

It is also a Moksha-Mantra. It is Lord Shiva’s mantra. It bestows health (Arogya), long life (Durgha Ayus), peace (Shanti), wealth (Aishwarya), prosperity (Rishti), satisfaction (Tushti) and immortality (Moksha).

On your birthday, repeat this Mantra with faith. It will bestow long life. You may repeat also at bed-side of alling persons.

To chant with the mantra or to have it playing in the background can be helpful in everyway as we allow its influence to permeate our consciousness

UNDERSTAND THE MAHAMANTRA

It is important to understand the meaning of the words as this makes the repetition meaningful and brings forth the results.

OM is not spelt out in the Rig-Veda, but has to be added to the beginning of all Mantras as given in an earlier Mantra of the Rig-Veda addressed to Ganapati. This Mantra is given in the Prayer page of my Book "Maharishi Jaimini's Upadesa Sutra".

TRYAMBAKKAM refers to the Three eyes of Lord Shiva. 'Trya' means 'Three' and 'Ambakam' means eyes. These three eyes or sources of enlightenment are the Trimurti or three primary deities, namely Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva and the three 'AMBA' (also meaning Mother or Shakti' are Saraswati, Lakshmi and Gouri. Thus in this word, we are referring to God as Omniscient (Brahma), Omnipresent (Vishnu) and Omnipotent (Shiva). This is the wisdom of Brihaspati and is referred to as Sri Duttatreya having three heads of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.

YAJAMAHE means, "We sing Thy praise".

SUGANDHIM refers to His fragrance (of knowledge, presence and strength i.e. three aspects) as being the best and always spreading around. Fragrance refers to the joy that we get on knowing, seeing or feeling His virtuous deeds.

PUSTIVARDHANAM: Pooshan refers to Him as the sustainer of this world and in this manner, He is the Father (Pater) of all. Pooshan is also the inner impeller of all knowledge and is thus Savitur or the Sun and also symbolizes Brahma the Omniscient Creator. In this manner He is also the Father (Genitor) of all.

URVAAROKAMEVA: 'URVA' means "VISHAL" or big and powerful or deadly. 'AAROOKAM' means 'Disease'. Thus URVAROOKA means deadly and overpowering diseases. (The CUCUMBER interpretation given in various places is also correct for the word URVAROOKAM, but not apt for this mantra). The diseases are also of three kinds caused by the influence (in the negative) of the three Guna's and are ignorance (Avidya etc), falsehood (Asat etc as even though Vishnu is everywhere, we fail to perceive Him and are guided by our sight and other senses) and weaknesses (Shadripu etc. a constraint of this physical body and Shiva is all powerful).

BANDANAAM means bound down. Thus read with URVAROOKAMEVA, it means 'I am bound down by deadly and overpowering diseases'.

MRITYORMOOKSHEYA means to deliver us from death (both premature death in this Physical world and from the neverending cycle of deaths due to re-birth) for the sake of Mokshya (Nirvana or final emancipation from re-birth).

MAAMRITAAT means 'please give me some Amritam (life rejuvinating nectar). Read with the previous word, it means that we are praying for some 'Amrit' to get out of the death inflicting diseases as well as the cycle of re-birth.